State health department under corrective plan for delayed SNAP applications

Federal officials have required Montana to implement a corrective action plan to improve what they call “unacceptable” delays in processing food assistance applications, a problem that the state health department has attributed to the strain that Medicaid redeterminations have created for its workforce over the last year.

In a Nov. 21 letter received by Montana Free Press through a public records request, which has not been previously reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service informed Montana health department officials that the state agency’s rate for timely application processing for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dropped to about 84% in the first half of 2023, more than 10 percentage points below the rate that federal officials consider acceptable.

“Montana is severely out of compliance with federal requirements related to SNAP [application processing timeliness]. This has resulted in a hardship to needy households across Montana who are not consistently receiving access to SNAP benefits within 7 or 30 days,” the letter stated.